The Tonguetorch Potion
by dxdevlin
Summary: Voldemort, desperate to recruit Death Eaters and kill Harry Potter, develops a wicked plan that involves a potent potion, an unsuspecting group of students, and the Imperious Curse on a certain person Harry thinks is dead...
1. The Feeble Hearted Babe

**The Tonguetorch Potion**

**By** DxDevlin

**Disclaimer**: This fanfic is fully credited to JK Rowling and her fabulous Harry Potter books.

**Summary**: Voldemort, desperate to recruit Death Eaters and kill Harry Potter, develops a wicked plan that involves a potent potion, an unsuspecting group of students, and the Imperious Curse on a certain person Harry thinks is dead...

**Chapter 1**

**The Feeble-Hearted Babe**

Lord Voldemort brooded madly in the one-celled dungeon of his headquarters. He paused in his anxious pacing and stared deep into a cracked mirror hanging lopsided on one side of the dark room. He was a man again, at least. Not a powerless spirit that had been reduced to inhabiting some weakling's body. His face, though pale and bony, was a face of power and shrewdness. Voldemort took his eyes away from the glass and instinctively flinched as he saw a dark figure standing in the doorway.

"_Lumos!_" Voldemort muttered. Light shot from the end of his wand and illuminated the entire room. He shielded his eyes and recognized Lucius Malfoy, letting out a sigh as he did.

"Ah, Lucius," Voldemort hissed through his teeth in a disgusted manner. The two had recently been absorbed in a heated debate in which both wizards had nearly been enraged enough to begin dueling. Lucius claimed that his son, Draco, met the requirements of becoming a new Death Eater, but Voldemort denied the claim by calling Draco a 'feeble-hearted babe.' These words still burned in Lucius' memory but he blotted them out as he delivered his message.

"My Lord," Lucius began, ignoring Voldemort's irritation. "The boy is commuting to the Burrow in a Muggle vehicle. Would you like to send us to intercept the – "

"No," calmly interrupted Voldemort. "The boy is mine. It is not time, in any case. I must feed off his mind until the time comes."

Lucius glanced down at his feet for a moment, gathering up his failing courage. Voldemort was not a wizard to exasperate; he had an ongoing reputation for slaughtering his own Death Eaters, despite how loyal they were, for merely irritating him a tad too much. But Lucius forced himself to say what he had come for.

"My Lord, I was considering your words about my son and I realized you have no accurate process of acquiring recruits to be Death Eaters. I'm not insisting that you give my son more consideration, that is not my intention…"

"Is it not?" hissed Voldmort without even glancing at Lucius. "Then what is your intention?"

"My point is, similar to the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts, if you conjured some sort of…potion, or spell that can harmlessly, tell, perhaps, if – " Lucius grimaced as his mind's thoughts seemed to turn into oil, "if the wizards you test have the qualities to be a Death Eater. So many Death Eaters have turned out to be fakes and…"

"Are you criticizing my judgment?" Voldemort whispered, his snake-like eyes suddenly penetrating through Lucius' face. "Are you accusing me of not possessing the intelligence to choose my own followers?"

"No, my Lord, that is not what I intended at all." Lucius bowed his head as his voice trailed off.

Voldemort allowed his mouth to crease into a sly smile. "You have a point, however. Gather a meeting of the Death Eaters. We will discuss this matter in detail. This may lead somewhere. We are indeed in dire need of new recruits."

"My Lord, the potion is ready. We have made it," Lucius blurted out, peering into Voldemort's eyes, searching for signs of surprise.

Voldemort raised his eyebrows. "Is it, now? And why did you not give me this information in the first place, Lucius, and avoid mumbling? Do you not _trust_ me, or did you just want to _impress _me?"

"I wanted none of those things, my Lord, none of them." Lucius realized that he had trapped himself into a corner.

"I am tired of your rudeness, Lucius. You come and waste my time. I dare say you need to be taught a lesson!"

Lucius' eyes opened wide. Apologies were too late…

"_Crucio!_" cried out Voldemort as he flung out his wand. For a second, Lucius cringed, then dropped to the ground in deafening pain. Needles as thick as spikes pierced into his soft flesh, an invisible hand dug into his head and its fingernails scratched raucously against his brain. The pain lasted for ten seconds that seemed an eternity and suddenly Lucius felt the pain gradually evaporating from his body…

"That should be enough, Lucius. You are dismissed."

Lucius eyes flashed in hate and disgust, his eyes and throat still burning in pain. He had been hit by the Crutacious Curse several times during his life, but each time it was unbearable. He wearily lifted his hands off the ground, boosted himself to a crouching position, and stood up flexing his sore limbs. Without another glance at his master, he walked out of the dark dungeon.

_I am not a coward_, he thought to himself. _Pain is nothing_.

Lucius furrowed his eyebrows as his thoughts traveled to his son, Draco. Draco appeared to be the perfect model of a Death Eater. He was clever and dogged and yes, a Malfoy, of course. But Lucius inwardly knew that Draco was still a weakling on the inside. Draco had nightmares about Voldemort coming to haunt him, about Death Eaters kidnapping him. He screamed and talked in his sleep, and Lucius heard it all.

That was why Lucius nearly pleaded with Voldemort to allow Draco to become a Death Eater. Draco needed to experience pain and suffering before his timidity got the best of him. He was already sixteen, an age where one chooses a basic route of life, and age where if one is a weakling, then one will be a weakling.

_Voldemort knows,_ Lucius thought. _He knows exactly who Draco is._

Lucius halted in his steps. The potion the Death Eaters had produced would more than likely be approved by Voldemort and used. If Draco were tested… Lucius avoided the thought. He had no other choice. He had to train Draco himself, he had to build his son up to be a Death Eater.

_Draco will not dishonor the Malfoy family_, he thought angrily. _Voldemort will rise to power and rid the world of half-breeds. My son and I will be right behind him, following him all the way._

Yet despite Lucius' persistent thoughts, he knew that the battle would be long, tough, and before it was over, there would be a tremendous amount of suffering. Lucius heaved one last sigh and Apparated into thin air.

........................

End of chapter 1!

I kind of didn't know what to write in the end and I just trailed off…

If it sucks, sorry. If this is a really boring chapter, I KNOW.

But it will get better, I promise. People will die, people will suffer, Sirius is going to be in this one, and so is HP and their whole crew. There will be spells and magic, everyone will be in it. I'm going to reread the 5th book to refresh my memory, it'll be awesome!

**R&R**, I'll write more soon!

:8-) my attempted smiley face

DxDevlin


	2. Promise Me

**The Tonguetorch Potion**

**By** DxDevlin

**Disclaimer**: This fanfic is fully credited to JK Rowling and her fabulous Harry Potter books.

**Summary**: Voldemort, desperate to recruit Death Eaters and kill Harry Potter, develops a wicked plan that involves a potent potion, an unsuspecting group of students, and the Imperious Curse on a certain person Harry thinks is dead.

**A/N**: If this is cheesy, SORRY!

**Chapter 2:**

**Promise Me**

Night quickly interchanged with day as the glowing sun set beneath the mountains. The always plump and cheerful Mrs. Weasley smiled wearily as she threw open the door of her home to reveal six rumpled people standing in the doorway. After letting out an "ahhhh" and a "come in," she watched as they entered the house and then frowned when she fixed her eyes on a particular dark-haired boy who looked sullen and gloomy.

"Harry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley to the boy sympathetically. "Make yourself at home, as always. My, you've grown over the summer. A haircut should be good for you; you haven't gotten one in a while, have you? Starting to grow like Bill's…"

"Mum, that's enough!" whispered Mrs. Weasley's son, Ron, who was rolling his eyes. "Harry just got here. You don't need to start fussing already!"

Not showing the least bit of dejection, Mrs. Weasley gave a quick smile, patted Harry's shoulder, and muttered an "off you go."

"C'mon, Harry. Let's go up to my room," beckoned Ron eagerly. Their friend, Hermione, followed them as they jogged up the stairs. Harry had not yet spoken more than a few words, which more than caught the attention of both his friends. They knew Harry was depressed. They knew coming back to the Burrow was just another reminder that a new year at Hogwarts was near. Normally, this would have brought excitement and frenzy, but for Harry Potter, it was another year where his life might be in danger, another year where he might face his one nemesis.

"He's happy."

Ron and Hermione both whirled around in the direction that the voice had come from. Harry, now sitting on Ron's bed, was stroking his scar.

"V-Voldemort, you mean?" asked Hermione, still somewhat afraid to use the name.

"Yeah," was all Harry said. But after a pause during which his friends were pondering what they should say, he continued. "I think he has hope. Blimey, I think…he's found something that could help him…"

"Do what?" whispered Ron.

"I dunno," Harry murmured as he snapped out of his trance and slid off the bed. "Anyway, how were your summers?"

Ron glanced in Hermione's direction nervously, as if to ask her whether they should play along with his "casualness" or talk to him about the events from the previous year. Hermione sighed with raised eyebrows.

"Harry," she coaxed. "We know what you're going through and – "

"Do you?" Harry asked. "You don't know what it's like for me to – to have someone that is like a parent _die_ because of me…"

"It's not your fault," stressed Ron. "You-Know-Who played with your mind; _he_ made you believe Sirius was hurt! It's happened before, so naturally you raced to save Sirius. Anyone would have done the same thing, Harry, even Dumbledore, even…"

"Yeah? Well if I hadn't rushed off like a fool because of some bloody dream – " Harry's throat choked as he forced the words through.

"You know you would've no matter what! You would _never_ just sit there and let Sirius be tortured!" shouted Ron. "Just accept the fact that it wasn't your fault! Sirius died trying to save us! Trying to protect the rest of the world from You-Know-Who! Just accept that, Harry. Please. We're worried sick about you."

Harry now sniffed aloud with his head buried in his arms. Hermione walked slowly toward him, taking a hold of his hand.

"Harry," she said. "You know what that prophecy said. One of you will die. I know I'm being harsh, but you can't sit there moping all day long. Sirius died for you. That's how much he and everyone with him loved and cared about you. He doesn't want you to be suffering because of him. He's already so proud of what you've done, but it would make his heart sing if you defeated Voldemort. Please, we're begging you, don't give up. Cheer up, first of all. I know you want to be stubborn and you want to act like you don't care, but you have to. Only you can save us."

"Oh, hell!" yelled Harry as he suddenly lifted his head up, nearly knocking Hermione backwards. "The thing that was supposed to help Voldemort doing something, he's found it and he's really happy. God, this can't be good. I feel his evilness. He's cooked up something now."

The three were silent for what seemed an eternity when Mrs. Weasley, to everyone's relief, broke the tension by calling out "Dinner!" Before Harry reached the stairs, Hermione stopped him.

"Tell me if this is going to be ok," she whispered. "Because our lives are depending on you. This next year, it's going to be hell, but you have to be willing to fight. You've been through so much and true, we don't know what it's like, but just let me know if you're going to fight."

Harry's emerald green eyes closed for a moment as he absorbed these words. Gradually, he looked up into Hermione's eyes and saw that there was true desperation in them.

"I will," he answered.

"Promise me," Hermione pleaded.

"I promise." Harry turned away.

Fred, leaning on the railing, saw in Harry's eyes that this was not the time to kid around. He called them down to dinner but not before showing Harry another gadget from the twins' successful joke shop. For the first time in a long time, Harry laughed aloud.

"Funny, isn't it?" Fred laughed as well, but putting a serious face on, he whispered, "I heard what you two were talking about. I know I joke around all the time, but I'm worried about You-Know-Who. So is George. You've been amazing so far; I'm rooting for you all the way. Kill that git, will ya? He's scared stiff of you, nearly blasting him away and all!"

Harry laughed again. "You always see a bright side, don't you? Yeah, I guess, I guess it's either me or him, huh? And we've got Dumbledore, we've got the whole world, yeah, yeah!"

The two raced down the stairs and sat down at a long, wooden table where the rest of the Weasley family and Hermione were waiting. Mr. Weasley smiled at Harry and gestured him to sit down.

"We have adopted a new custom, Harry," Mr. Weasley explained. "At every meal, we join hands and have a sort of…er, moment of silence. Think about the past, present, and future. Feel connected with everyone sitting at this table and everyone who is not. Reflect." He clasped hands with George and Mrs. Weasley, bowed his head, and closed his eyes.

Harry glanced around and watched the closed eyes of everyone before following suit. At first, he could only ponder what he should reflect on. Sirius. Voldemort. The veil. His scar. His thoughts jumped back and forth between everything that had happened to him since the fateful day his parents had been murdered. The Dursleys. Dudley's bullying. Suddenly, with his eyes still closed, he saw a cracked mirror and in the reflection he saw the enemy.

Who looked back with bloodshot eyes.

………………………………..

[-------End of Chapter 2-------]

It _will_ get more exciting. I'm just building up the suspense, ok?

Review pretty please?

:8-) T/ dXdEvLiN /diZZle


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